Getting to Know God
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. [Mt 11-28-29
Restful meditation for the active life
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![The Spiritual Disciplines of Eugene Peterson,
Translator of The Message.
In the summer of 2009, I meet Eugene Person while I was
training Montana pastors and church leaders in emotional self-
regulation and in self-talk awareness. On the last day of
our training, Eugene Peterson led a morning conversation
for Montana pastors. The pastors and church leaders in our
program were invited. This took place at Flathead Presbyterian
Camp and Retreat Center in Montana near Eugene’s home.
Context of our Training and the Colloquium with Eugene
Our training helps a person realize that they are 100%
responsible before God for the thoughts that they allow to nest
in their minds and are equally responsible to regulate their anger
and anxiety and challenge and reverse any hopeless thinking
they might entertain.
This growth in self-awareness leads to a greater awareness of
the responsibility as Christians for what we think, do and say.
It has proven to be highly effective--based on feedback--in
assisting the Holy Spirit to convict participants of many
heretofore unconfessed sins. These damaging-to-relationships,
yet seemingly “unknown” sins [Psalm 19:12] fortunately are clearly
grounded in Jesus’ preaching and the epistles and more often
than not already clearly echoed in the Old Testament. The prayer
and spiritual disciplines workbook, Getting to Know God,
provides a good summary of God’s word about many of these
sins and Jesus’ call to repentance.
Given this context, it was a great honor and a great joy to
be part of the conversations with Eugene, who himself has a
clear idea of what being a pastor means and the centrality of
healthy, Scripture informed, trusting relationships between
a pastor and the congregation. Clearly, such relationships
require a high degree of emotional self-regulation. Clearly,
Eugene would add that they require a pastor to spend quality
time each day in conversation with God over God’s word.
Moreover, from that colloquium with Eugene, it was clear that
while he might state it differently, he would find nothing contrary
to the notion that an aware and humble repentance of one’s sins
opens that person (pastor) to an abundant flow of grace that
better equips them for building trustworthy relationships. In the
training I do, I would add that it also enables that person (pastor)
to hear the Holy Spirit call them to have the mind of Christ 24/7.
See [See Phil 2:5 in the context of 2:1-8]. In our training, I
teach that humbly and joyously accepting the call to know and
to do the will of God 24/7 with the mind of Christ is the
beginning of truly meaningful change; it is the beginning of
living intentionally the promised new creation in Christ. Of
course, I add that that can only be done by the power of the
indwelling Holy Spirit and a humble heart that believes God’s
promise of new life in Christ are true.
(To learn more about the training and its effectiveness, click on
Testimonies and/or My Daily Bread.
Daily Spiritual Disciplines and Having the Mind of Christ
During the colloquium I asked Eugene if he did daily
spiritual disciplines. I asked him because I did not know,
no one seemed to know and I was convinced that he must have
set aside time to be with God. In my limited experience and
understanding of God’s ways, God generally reveals himself to
those who humbly and sincerely take time to listen to God
speak to them through the Scriptures.
Based on his work as a pastor and his works, I believed that
Eugene had to have intentionally carved out time to be with
God alone. How else, I wondered, would he have been able and
enabled by the Spirit to translate the Scriptures into a language
that a person of today easily grasps. Indeed, his labour in God’s
word as expressed in The Message has allowed the Holy Spirit
to lead many to repentance of their sins and to begin a new walk
with God by hearing God’s word in their spoken colloquial
language. Just like Jesus did.
Question to me: If that was in the summer of 2009, why are
you only posting his important reply now?
Me: It was only this summer (2010) at the last of four scheduled
retreats that our paths crossed again and that I had a chance to
verify if I had heard him correctly.
What follows is that conversation with Eugene Peterson.
_____________________________
Question: Do you have a set of spiritual disciplines that you
practice each day?
Eugene: Yes.
Q: Would you mind sharing that with us?
Eugene: Well, I am an early riser. I have always been an early
riser. I get up about two hours before anyone else. What I do in
those two hours is that I read the Scriptures thoughtfully for
about 90 minutes. In the last 30 minutes, I write down what I
think God was trying to say to me. I did that for 30 years years,
every day during my ministry. That is what I call, time in
conversation with God.
When I leave that conversation, I then begin my spiritual
disciplines.
My first spiritual discipline is to see the first person that I meet
as a child of God. And I strive to practice that spiritual discipline
with each person that I meet all day long.
__________________
Your Comments: Let us know if this brief, personal
witness by Eugene about his spiritual disciplines has
inspired you to be more intentional and disciplined
(1) about spending time in conversation with God each
day, and (2) about seeing each person you meet as a child
of God, worthy of utmost respect and consideration.
Email your story with your name to: edward@gtkg.com.
If your witness is chosen, your story may be slightly edited
before posting. Receipt of your email will be considered as
permission to post, so be diligent before your click “send.”
You remain the author.
My Hope: My hope is that Eugene’s spiritual disciplines
will inspire you and, by your passing it on, inspire other
Christians to be intentional and disciplined about spending
thoughtful time in God’s word and to humbly take written notes
on what you believe that God is saying to you. Clearly, humbly
journaling with the Spirit about God’s word, God’s two edged
sword, has helped people to allow God’s word to penetrate
more deeply, in that place where spirit, soul and flesh unite.
Therefore, if indeed you have been captured by the vision
that a truly vitalized Christian life is to know and to do the
will of God 24/7 with the mind of Christ, I strongly
recommend that you humbly and gratefully begin to journal
with God over God’s word on a daily basis.
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